II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4043 

To amend title 5, United States Code, to make executive agency telework 

policies transparent, to track executive agency use of telework, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 21, 2024 

Mr. PETERS (for himself and Ms. ERNST) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and 

Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend title 5, United States Code, to make executive 

agency telework policies transparent, to track executive 

agency use of telework, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Telework Trans5 parency Act of 2024’’. 

6 SEC. 2. TELEWORK POLICY TRANSPARENCY AND TRACK7 ING. 

8 (a) MONITORING EXECUTIVE AGENCY TELEWORK

9 POLICIES AND REQUIRING TRANSPARENCY.— 


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1 (1) TELEWORK ELIGIBILITY POLICY.—Section 

2 6502(a)(1) of title 5, United States Code, is amend3 ed— 

4 (A) in the matter preceding subparagraph 

5 (A), by striking ‘‘Not later than 180 days after 

6 the date of enactment of this chapter, the’’ and 

7 inserting ‘‘The’’; 

8 (B) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

9 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

10 (C) in subparagraph (C), by striking the 

11 period at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

12 (D) by adding at the end the following: 

13 ‘‘(D) not later than 180 days after the 

14 date of enactment of this subparagraph, and as 

15 updates are made thereafter— 

16 ‘‘(i) submit to the Director of the Of17 fice of Personnel Management a descrip18 tion of the policy established under sub19 paragraph (A), or any successor policy; 

20 and 

21 ‘‘(ii) make publicly available on the 

22 website of the executive agency the most 

23 current version of the policy described in 

24 clause (i).’’. 


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1 (2) TRAINING AND MONITORING.—Section 6503 

2 of title 5, United States Code, is amended by adding 

3 at the end the following: 

4 ‘‘(c) MONITORING EMPLOYEE USE OF TELEWORK.— 

5 ‘‘(1) DEFINITION.—In this subsection, the term 

6 ‘Shared Service Centers’ has the meaning given the 

7 term in section 850.103 of title 5, Code of Federal 

8 Regulations, or any successor regulation. 

9 ‘‘(2) ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMON DATA

10 STANDARDS; DATA REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.— 

11 Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment 

12 of this subsection, in part to aid in the collection of 

13 data for the purposes of satisfying the reporting re14 quirements under section 6506, the Director of the 

15 Office of Personnel Management shall establish— 

16 ‘‘(A) executive agency telework data re17 porting requirements, including required time18 frames for reporting; 

19 ‘‘(B) data standards and protocols for 

20 tracking employee use of telework; 

21 ‘‘(C) best practices and training for man22 agers of employees who telework to review and 

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1 eral Regulations (or any successor regulation), 

2 paid to such an employee; 

3 ‘‘(D) internal controls for data quality with 

4 respect to the use of telework, including proce5 dures to— 

6 ‘‘(i) consistently monitor system-gen7 erated errors; 

8 ‘‘(ii) produce reports on adherence to 

9 data standards and edit rules; and 

10 ‘‘(iii) ensure prompt action to address 

11 issues identified in clauses (i) and (ii); and 

12 ‘‘(E) mechanisms to provide regular feed13 back to executive agencies and Shared Service 

14 Centers on data quality with respect to 

15 telework, which shall include the provision of 

16 any human capital data needed to evaluate 

17 telework practices. 

18 ‘‘(3) ESTABLISHMENT OF AUTOMATED

19 TELEWORK TRACKING SYSTEMS WITHIN PAYROLL

20 SYSTEMS.—The head of each executive agency, in 

21 consultation (where applicable) with each Shared 

22 Service Center that provides payroll or human re23 sources services to that executive agency, shall es24 tablish telework tracking within each payroll system 

25 that— 


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1 ‘‘(A) is automated; and 

2 ‘‘(B) conforms to— 

3 ‘‘(i) the telework data standards and 

4 coding requirements issued by the Director 

5 of the Office of Personnel Management; 

6 and 

7 ‘‘(ii) the requirements established by 

8 the Director of the Office of Personnel 

9 Management under paragraph (2). 

10 ‘‘(4) ESTABLISHMENT OF ONLINE TOOL.—Not 

11 later than 2 years after the date of enactment of 

12 this subsection, the Director of the Office of Per13 sonnel Management shall establish and maintain a 

14 publicly available online tool that— 

15 ‘‘(A) makes available the data required to 

16 be reported under paragraph (2) in an appro17 priate and readable format; 

18 ‘‘(B) incorporates appropriate protections 

19 for personal and sensitive information; and 

20 ‘‘(C) uses data visualization or other data 

21 presentation techniques to support strategic ex22 ecutive agency workforce planning and talent 

23 management objectives. 

24 ‘‘(d) MONITORING THE EFFECTS OF TELEWORK ON

25 OFFICE BUILDING SPACE UTILIZATION AND EXECUTIVE


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1 AGENCY PERFORMANCE.—The head of each executive 

2 agency shall— 

3 ‘‘(1) establish a system to track office building 

4 space utilization rates that aligns with guidance and 

5 benchmarks issued by the Director of the Office of 

6 Management and Budget, in coordination with the 

7 Administrator of General Services and the Federal 

8 Real Property Council established by section 623(a) 

9 of title 40, under section 6504(b)(2)(A); 

10 ‘‘(2) identify a set of indicators, and establish 

11 routines using the indicators, to assess and monitor 

12 the effects of telework policy on the performance of 

13 the executive agency, including, as applicable to the 

14 mission of the executive agency— 

15 ‘‘(A) indicators related to— 

16 ‘‘(i) customer experience and service, 

17 including backlogs and wait times; 

18 ‘‘(ii) security; 

19 ‘‘(iii) cost to operations; 

20 ‘‘(iv) the management of real property 

21 and personal property; 

22 ‘‘(v) investments in network capacity 

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1 ciency and reduce the use of outdated tech2 nology; and 

3 ‘‘(vi) the ability of the executive agen4 cy to recruit and retain top talent; and 

5 ‘‘(B) any other indicator determined ap6 propriate by the head of the executive agency, 

7 including as the result of policy and policy guid8 ance provided under section 6504(b)(2)(B); 

9 ‘‘(3) not later than 180 days after the date of 

10 enactment of this subsection, and as updates are 

11 made thereafter— 

12 ‘‘(A) submit to the Director of the Office 

13 of Management and Budget and the Director of 

14 the Office of Personnel Management a descrip15 tion of the indicators and routines described in 

16 paragraph (2); and 

17 ‘‘(B) make publicly available on the 

18 website of the executive agency the most cur19 rent version of the indicators and routines de20 scribed in paragraph (2); and 

21 ‘‘(4) with respect to the office building space 

22 utilization rates described in paragraph (1)— 

23 ‘‘(A) include those rates in the budget jus24 tification materials (as defined in section 

25 3(b)(2) of the Federal Funding Accountability 


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1 and Transparency Act of 2006 (31 U.S.C. 6101 

2 note)) of the executive agency; and 

3 ‘‘(B) make those rates publicly available.’’. 

4 (3) TELEWORK WEBSITE.—Section 6504(e)(2) 

5 of title 5, United States Code, is amended— 

6 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking 

7 ‘‘telework links’’ and inserting the following: 

8 ‘‘links to Government websites, including a 

9 compilation of links to executive agency 

10 websites with descriptions of telework policies 

11 and indicators and routines described in sec12 tions 6502(a)(1)(D) and 6503(d)(2), respec13 tively’’; and 

14 (B) in subparagraph (D)— 

15 (i) by striking ‘‘, and the General 

16 Services Administration’’ and inserting ‘‘, 

17 the General Services Administration, and 

18 the Department of State’’; and 

19 (ii) by striking ‘‘10’’ and inserting 

20 ‘‘30’’. 

21 (b) ESTABLISHING BENCHMARKS AND PROVIDING

22 GUIDANCE.—Section 6504(b) of title 5, United States 

23 Code, is amended— 

24 (1) in paragraph (3), by redesignating subpara25 graphs (A), (B), and (C) as clauses (i), (ii), and 


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1 (iii), respectively, and adjusting the margins accord2 ingly; 

3 (2) by redesignating paragraphs (1), (2), and 

4 (3) as subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C), and adjust5 ing the margins accordingly; 

6 (3) by striking ‘‘The Office of Personnel Man7 agement shall’’ and inserting the following: 

8 ‘‘(1) OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT.— 

9 The Office of Personnel Management shall’’; and 

10 (4) by adding at the end the following: 

11 ‘‘(2) OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET.— 

12 The Director of the Office of Management and 

13 Budget shall take the following actions: 

14 ‘‘(A) In coordination with the Adminis15 trator of General Services and the Federal Real 

16 Property Council established by section 623(a) 

17 of title 40, the following actions: 

18 ‘‘(i) Develop benchmarks for meas19 uring office building space utilization that 

20 account for the use of telework. 

21 ‘‘(ii) Provide guidance to each execu22 tive agency for collecting office building 

23 space occupancy data regarding the aver24 age daily onsite attendance in the office 


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1 building space owned or leased by the exec2 utive agency. 

3 ‘‘(iii) Establish office building space 

4 utilization rate goals for each executive 

5 agency of not less than 60 percent. 

6 ‘‘(iv) Until the benchmarks described 

7 in clause (i) are developed, and the guid8 ance described in clause (ii) is provided, 

9 ensure that each executive agency, not less 

10 frequently than quarterly, uses the fol11 lowing formula to calculate office building 

12 space utilization with respect to the office 

13 building space that the executive agency 

14 leases or owns: 

15 ‘‘(I) Calculate the usable square 

16 feet of the office building space so 

17 leased or owned, which shall be cal18 culated— 

19 ‘‘(aa) by using the portion of 

20 that office building space that is 

21 available for occupants, including 

22 offices, team rooms, and con23 ference rooms; and 

24 ‘‘(bb) in accordance with the 

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1 ment developed by the Building 

2 Owners and Managers Associa3 tion International, as approved 

4 by the American National Stand5 ards Institute. 

6 ‘‘(II) Divide the number of usa7 ble square feet calculated under sub8 clause (I) by 180. 

9 ‘‘(III) Divide the daily average of 

10 the number of individuals who are 

11 present working in the space that is 

12 the subject of the calculation under 

13 subclause (I) by the quotient obtained 

14 under subclause (II), which shall be 

15 expressed as a percentage. 

16 ‘‘(B) In coordination with the Director of 

17 the Office of Personnel Management and the 

18 Administrator of General Services, provide pol19 icy and policy guidance for the indicators and 

20 routines described in section 6503(d)(2), includ21 ing with respect to the identification of addi22 tional indicators under section 6503(d)(2)(B).’’. 

23 (c) CONTINUITY OF OPERATIONS.—Section 6504(d) 

24 of title 5, United States Code, is amended— 


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1 (1) in the subsection heading, by striking 

2 ‘‘PLANS’’; 

3 (2) by redesignating paragraphs (1) and (2) as 

4 paragraphs (2) and (3), respectively; and 

5 (3) by inserting before paragraph (2), as so re6 designated, the following: 

7 ‘‘(1) EMERGENCY INCIDENTS.— 

8 ‘‘(A) DEFINITION.—In this paragraph, the 

9 term ‘emergency incident’ means an event that, 

10 as determined by the head of an executive agen11 cy, would pose a threat to the life, health, or 

12 safety of an employee, or a group of employees, 

13 of the executive agency if the employee, or 

14 group of employees, were to report to the work15 site of the employee or group of employees. 

16 ‘‘(B) TELEWORK DURING EMERGENCY IN17 CIDENTS.—Notwithstanding any other provision 

18 of law, the head of an executive agency may re19 quire that an employee, or a group of employ20 ees, of the executive agency telework during an 

21 emergency incident under procedures estab22 lished by the Director of the Office of Personnel 

23 Management.’’. 

24 (d) REPORTS.—Section 6506(b) of title 5, United 

25 States Code, is amended— 


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1 (1) in paragraph (2)— 

2 (A) by striking subparagraphs (D) and 

3 (E); 

4 (B) by redesignating subparagraph (F) as 

5 subparagraph (D); 

6 (C) in subparagraph (D), as so redesig7 nated— 

8 (i) in the matter preceding clause (i), 

9 by striking ‘‘agency participation rate 

10 goals during the reporting period, and 

11 other’’; 

12 (ii) in clause (ii), by inserting ‘‘and 

13 carbon emissions’’ after ‘‘use’’; 

14 (iii) in clause (v), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

15 the end; 

16 (iv) in clause (vi), by striking ‘‘and’’ 

17 at the end; and 

18 (v) by inserting after clause (vi) the 

19 following: 

20 ‘‘(vii) the ability of the agency to dis21 pose of or consolidate unnecessary and un22 derutilized space or property, including to 

23 reduce the monetary and environmental 

24 cost of maintaining that space or property; 

25 and 


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1 ‘‘(viii) customer experience and serv2 ice, including backlogs and wait times;’’; 

3 and 

4 (D) by inserting after subparagraph (D), 

5 as so redesignated, the following: 

6 ‘‘(E) an explanation of whether or not each 

7 executive agency met the goals described in sub8 paragraph (D) for the last reporting period 

9 and, if not, what actions are being taken to 

10 identify and eliminate barriers to meeting those 

11 goals for the next reporting period; and 

12 ‘‘(F) what actions each executive agency 

13 has taken since the last reporting period, and 

14 any additional steps the executive agency is 

15 planning to take, to— 

16 ‘‘(i) ensure oversight and quality con17 trol with respect to telework; and 

18 ‘‘(ii) increase the utilization rates of 

19 office building space owned or leased by 

20 the executive agency to not less than 60 

21 percent (or any higher rate established by 

22 the Director of the Office of Management 

23 and Budget under section 6504(b)(2)(A)); 

24 and’’; and 

25 (2) by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(3) USE OF ONLINE TOOL.—Notwithstanding 

2 any other provision of this subsection, the Director 

3 of the Office of Personnel Management may elect to 

4 carry out this subsection, in whole or in part, 

5 through the online tool established under section 

6 6503(c)(4).’’. 

7 (e) REGULATORY AUTHORITY OVER AGENCY

8 TELEWORK POLICY.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 65 of title 5, United 

10 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 

11 following: 

12 ‘‘§ 6507. Regulatory authority 

13 ‘‘The Director of the Office of Personnel Manage14 ment may prescribe regulations to carry out this chap15 ter.’’. 

16 (2) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMEND17 MENT.—The table of sections for chapter 65 of title 

18 5, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

19 end the following: 

‘‘6507. Regulatory authority.’’. 

20 SEC. 3. GAO AUDITS AND REPORTS. 

21 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

22 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT23 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com24 mittees’’ means— 


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1 (A) the Committee on Homeland Security 

2 and Governmental Affairs of the Senate; 

3 (B) the Committee on Oversight and Ac4 countability of the House of Representatives; 

5 and 

6 (C) any other congressional committee de7 termined appropriate by the Comptroller Gen8 eral. 

9 (2) COMPTROLLER GENERAL.—The term 

10 ‘‘Comptroller General’’ means the Comptroller Gen11 eral of the United States. 

12 (3) EMPLOYEE; EXECUTIVE AGENCY; 

13 TELEWORK.—The terms ‘‘employee’’, ‘‘executive 

14 agency’’, and ‘‘telework’’ have the meanings given 

15 those terms in section 6501 of title 5, United States 

16 Code. 

17 (4) EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT.—The term ‘‘Ex18 ecutive department’’ has the meaning given the term 

19 in section 101 of title 5, United States Code. 

20 (5) LOCALITY PAYMENT; OFFICIAL WORK21 SITE.—The terms ‘‘locality payment’’ and ‘‘official 

22 worksite’’ have the meanings given those terms in 

23 section 531.602 of title 5, Code of Federal Regula24 tions, or any successor regulation. 


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1 (b) OFFICE BUILDING SPACE UTILIZATION.—The 

2 Comptroller General shall conduct, and submit to Con3 gress a report with respect to, the following audits: 

4 (1) For each of the first 3 fiscal years that be5 gins after the date of enactment of this Act, an 

6 audit of— 

7 (A) the measurements made under the 

8 benchmarks developed under section 

9 6504(b)(2)(A)(i) of title 5, United States Code, 

10 as added by section 2 of this Act; or 

11 (B) if the Director of the Office of Man12 agement and Budget has not developed the 

13 benchmarks described in subparagraph (A) as 

14 of the first day of the fiscal year in which the 

15 audit is scheduled to be performed, the calcula16 tions made by executive agencies under section 

17 6504(b)(2)(A)(iv) of title 5, United States 

18 Code, as added by section 2 of this Act. 

19 (2) An audit of the benchmarks developed by 

20 the Director of the Office of Management and Budg21 et under section 6504(b)(2)(A)(i) of title 5, United 

22 States Code, as added by section 2 of this Act, in23 cluding any changes to those benchmarks that are 

24 made after the benchmarks are first developed. 


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1 (3)(A) An audit of each system established to 

2 track office building space utilization rates, as re3 quired under section 6503(d)(1) of title 5, United 

4 States Code, as added by section 2 of this Act. 

5 (B) The Comptroller General shall conduct the 

6 audit required under subparagraph (A) once for 

7 each of the first 3 fiscal years that begins after the 

8 fiscal year in which the Director of the Office of 

9 Management and Budget develops the benchmarks 

10 required under section 6504(b)(2)(A)(i) of title 5, 

11 United States Code, as added by section 2 of this 

12 Act, after which the Comptroller General shall con13 duct that audit— 

14 (i) not more frequently than once each fis15 cal year; and 

16 (ii) upon request by any Member of Con17 gress. 

18 (c) VERIFYING OFFICIAL WORKSITE AND LOCALITY

19 PAYMENT ACCURACY.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Comptroller General 

21 shall— 

22 (A) not later than 180 days after the date 

23 of enactment of this Act, brief the appropriate 

24 congressional committees on how Executive de25 partments determine the official worksite for an 


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1 employee who teleworks, especially for the pur2 pose of determining the amount of a locality 

3 payment paid to such an employee; and 

4 (B) not later than 1 year after the date on 

5 which the Comptroller General provides the 

6 briefing required under subparagraph (A), sub7 mit to the appropriate congressional committees 

8 a report regarding the matters described in that 

9 subparagraph. 

10 (2) CONTENTS OF REPORT.—The report re11 quired under paragraph (1)(B) shall include an as12 sessment of— 

13 (A) how Executive departments— 

14 (i) ensure that employees regularly re15 port to the official worksite of those em16 ployees; and 

17 (ii) use the authorities under section 

18 531.605(d)(2) of title 5, Code of Federal 

19 Regulations, or any successor regulation, 

20 including an assessment of— 

21 (I) the frequency with which Ex22 ecutive departments use those au23 thorities; and 

24 (II) the average duration that 

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1 tion granted under such section 

2 531.605(d)(2); and 

3 (B) the oversight practices that Executive 

4 departments use to review and verify the 

5 amount of a locality payment paid to an em6 ployee who teleworks. 

7 (3) RECURRING ANALYSIS.—With respect to the 

8 practices described in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of 

9 paragraph (2), the Comptroller General shall take 

10 the following actions: 

11 (A) Assess those practices once for each of 

12 the 5 fiscal years that begins after the fiscal 

13 year in which the Comptroller General submits 

14 the report required under paragraph (1)(B) and 

15 submit to the appropriate congressional com16 mittees a report if the Comptroller General de17 termines that there have been any changes to 

18 those practices since the last such assessment 

19 performed by the Comptroller General. 

20 (B) After carrying out subparagraph (A) 

21 of this paragraph, conduct an assessment de22 scribed in such subparagraph (A)— 

23 (i) not more frequently than once each 

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1 mittees of a report if the Comptroller Gen2 eral determines that there have been any 

3 changes to those practices since the last 

4 such assessment performed by the Comp5 troller General; and 

6 (ii) upon request by any Member of 

7 Congress. 

Æ 


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